Ah, Summer Vacation!
by bibliophileemily
Summary: It's summer, and Tsunade's mission is for everyone ...to have fun? Whaaat! All missions are cancelled, training is expressly forbidden, and Team Gai has unlimited free time to get into all sorts of trouble. At this rate, Neji just hopes he can survive the summer, let alone enjoy it. Written in the vein of Naruto SD: Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals. Crackish. Eventual NejiHina, LeeTen.
1. Kakigoori

前説: 夏が来た  
Prologue: Summer Has Come

It was June, and summer had descended upon Konoha like a warm, wet, suffocating blanket with heat and humidity levels rivaling those of a tropical beach but without the cooling ocean breeze.

Despite the disagreeable weather, Rock Lee was still training ferociously and actively encouraging his teammates to join in.

"Come on, Neji! I bet I can do five hundred pushups faster than you can!" he challenged.

Neji groaned; he had absolutely no desire to do physical activity of any kind, let alone pushups, in this weather.

"In this heat? I doubt even you, Lee, could complete five hundred pushups."

"Yeah," Tenten agreed, fanning herself with one of her scrolls. "You'd be lucky if you could even do fifty."

"Fifty pushups is nothing!" Lee exclaimed. "I bet I can do a hundred before either of you can do fifty!"

Neji shot Tenten a look that said "Great, now look what you've got us into," and Tenten shot him one right back before joining Lee in his training.

"Last one done has to buy juice for the rest of the team," she sang, prompting Neji to drop down and do pushups as if his life depended on it; weather be damned, his pride was at stake.

They were almost finished when Gai confronted them on the training ground.

"What are you doing?" he shouted, grabbing Lee and pulling him into a standing position. "It's summer!"

Neji and Tenten froze; Gai had never, _ever, _interrupted training before.

"Gai-sensei, we were training," Lee explained.

"Well, you'd better stop," Gai said. "Didn't you see the sign?" He pointed to a large billboard erected over Hokage Mountain.

"Summer vacation has officially begun," Tenten read. "So? What's that got to do with training?"

"No, there's a footnote," Neji said, using his Byakugan to read the fine print. "It says, 'By order of the Hokage, all training is expressly forbidden.'"

"Forbidden?" Lee looked as though he was going to go into shock. "But…but _why_?"

"Isn't that dangerous?" Tenten asked. "We're ninja; we have to keep in top form."

"And what about missions?" Neji added. "Are those cancelled too?"

"Well, it's peacetime," Gai explained. "The Hokage decided that after the events of the last war, everyone deserved a vacation. And what better time than summer?"

Neji could think of a few better times than summer—maybe a season that didn't make him feel like he was melting—but he appreciated the sentiment behind Tsunade's actions. When was the last time he'd had a vacation?

"But without training," Lee continued, still mentally stuck on the ban of his favorite pastime, "what will we do?"

Gai flashed a blinding smile. "There are all sorts of things to do in the summer! Go swimming, visit the beach, watch some fireworks: the air is thick with youthful passion!"

A light bulb went off in Lee's head. "I'm going to get Sakura-san to go on a date with me!"

"That's the spirit, Lee!"

Tenten turned to Neji. "I can't believe this…we aren't trapped in a genjutsu, are we?"

Neji shook his head.

"Tsunade-sama really thinks this is a good idea then…"

There was a pause where they all contemplated their new state of freedom.

"So…" Lee said, breaking the silence, "if none of us finished last, who's buying the juice?"

* * *

あ～、夏休み!  
Ah, Summer Vacation!

* * *

第一間: かき氷  
Chapter One: Shaved Ice

It was determined that since no one had finished fifty pushups, the person who had done the fewest was responsible for buying the team drinks. As he brought Lee his melon soda and Tenten her iced coffee, Neji lamented his now-almost empty wallet; when had Tenten gotten so good at pushups?

After finishing their drinks, the team found themselves aimlessly wandering the streets of Konoha, trying to think of something to do.

"We've never had a vacation before," Tenten mused. "Not since we graduated from the academy, anyway. I don't even remember what I used to do back then."

"I used to watch a lot of movies when I wasn't doing homework," Lee said.

"We could go see a movie now," Neji suggested, but Tenten shook her head.

"There's nothing good out yet."

"Well, can we at least go somewhere with air conditioning?" Neji pleaded, convinced he'd lost half his body weight through sweat, but his request was unheard as Lee pointed out Naruto and Sakura.

"Let's go see what Sakura-san and Naruto-kun are doing!" he said.

"Hey, Bushy-brows, Neji," Naruto greeted them. "What are you doing?"

"We were about to ask you the same question," said Tenten. "We're trying to figure out what to do now that we're all on vacation."

"I know what you mean; it's so strange!" Sakura said. "We haven't had a vacation in _so_ long!"

Neji grit his teeth in frustration; he knew that it was polite to make the required small talk ad infinitum before jumping to the next topic of conversation, but really, there was a limit.

At least no one had brought up the weather, he thought.

"Yeah, it's gotten so hot all of a sudden," Naruto said. As Lee agreed, "You know, it really has," Neji felt his blood pressure starting to rise.

"It's much too hot for this." In desperation, he looked around and saw a shaved ice vendor. The man was turning the crank of the shaving machine, creating a flurry of tiny ice particles.

He didn't even bother pointing this out to the others and just started walking towards it; Tenten noticed and followed, unconsciously leading the others to the stand.

"Oh, hey, _kakigōri_," Naruto exclaimed when he realized where they were. "We should totally get some!"

"A most excellent idea," Neji said.

They got in line and waited for the man to shave enough ice to serve everyone when Hinata and her teammates showed up.

"Hello, Naru…I mean, everyone," she said, prompting everyone to exchange greetings.

"Seems like everyone had the same idea today," Kiba said. "Probably because it's too damn hot."

"But that's what makes shaved ice so refreshing," Shino said. "Why? Because if it wasn't hot, we wouldn't want it, and its purpose would be lost."

Neji couldn't help staring at Shino: how could he stay so calm and cool while wearing so many heavy layers? Neji's own clothing was relatively light, but the moisture in the air made them damp and heavy. Lee had the right idea with those thin tights, he thought before immediately bringing that notion to a halt. Approving of _Lee_'s wardrobe choices? The heat was affecting him worse than he'd thought.

At last, it was his turn in line. He ordered cherry ice and watched as the vendor scooped the ice into a paper cup and poured the bright red syrup over it.

"Thirty ryou, please," the vendor said. Neji happily pulled out his wallet to pay when he noticed how light it felt and opened it to see only two coins.

No, he thought. This can't be happening. I'm too close…

His teammates had already paid for and started eating their ice, and he couldn't step out of line without losing his spot. He just wanted his cherry ice…

"Um, make it two, please," Hinata said from behind him, putting sixty ryou onto the tray. "Except make mine strawberry."

"Hinata-sama?"

"It's OK, Neji-nii-san. You can pay me back later."

Even though he was embarrassed that he had to be bailed out by her, Neji was still grateful—honestly, if Hinata hadn't stepped in, he probably would have died of heat stroke, so when he mumbled his thanks, the intent was genuine.

At last, he had his cherry ice; after one bite, he instantly felt cooler. Everyone else seemed to have the same feelings as they ate their own ice in satisfied silence. Neji sighed contently; perhaps summer wouldn't be so bad after all.


	2. Ai-ai-gasa

第二間：相合傘  
Chapter Two: Sharing an Umbrella

The rainy season literally began overnight; Neji had been asleep when the sound of pouring rain woke him up. He got up and watched the rain for a moment, thinking that it would stop by morning, but morning broke just as wet and overcast as the night had been.

The Hyuuga clan may have been one of the oldest and most respected clans in the village, but the family compound was severely lacking in umbrellas. Fortunately, Neji was able to grab one on his way out; it was very old, practically an antique, but it did its job, and he privately thought it made him look rather dashing.

He met Lee and Tenten at the movie theater; with as much free time as they had now, they'd pledged to go once a month and rotate who chose the movie each time. Today was Tenten's pick, and she'd chosen a horror movie. Neji wasn't particularly fond of horror movies, but Lee _hated_ them and spent most of the film shrieking while hiding his face in Tenten's arm. (Neji vaguely wondered if that had been Tenten's goal from the beginning, but she was so stoic the entire time that he eventually dropped that idea.)

The three of them had wandered to the bookstore to loiter (the bookshop owner was always asleep and never seemed to care what his customers were doing) when Lee suddenly let out a huge sigh.

"Lee, what's wrong?" Tenten asked.

"The rain," he moaned. "The rainy season always comes so suddenly; I mean, our vacation just started, and we can't really do anything because of the rain."

"Well, there _are_ things people can do in the rain," Tenten said helpfully. "Like…um…" She looked around and picked up a book with a couple sharing an umbrella on the cover. "Sharing an umbrella! There's nothing more romantic than that!"

"You're right!" Lee said, suddenly fired up. "And maybe even kissing in the rain…" He and Tenten both sighed dreamily. "There's nothing better than that."

"How would you even know?" Neji said drily. "Neither of you have significant others."

Lee immediately sank into despair as Tenten rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, and you have so much room to talk, oh wise and all-knowing Neji? Please do share with us the story of the last time _you_ went on a date…oh, wait; you've never been on one."

Neji pretended not to hear her. So what if he'd never been on a date? He could go on a date any time he wanted; he _chose_ to focus on his ninja career. Obviously he'd made the right decision as he was the only member of his former team to achieve jounin rank.

He was about to share this particular observation with them when Lee, who had been staring forlornly at the book Tenten had found, was inspired.

"Wait! I think I know a jutsu that can help us with our problem!"

"A jutsu to fix our love lives?" Tenten said. "How? You can't use ninjutsu."

Lee grinned and pulled out his notepad and pencil. "I remember it from our academy days. Look." He quickly drew a stylized umbrella, then wrote his name and Sakura's name underneath it. "_Aiaigasa no jutsu_!"

Tenten massaged her forehead in frustration. "Lee, that's just a children's game!" she shouted. "I can't believe you would think something like that would actually—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence because a soaking wet Sakura ran into the bookstore to seek shelter from the rain.

"It worked!" Lee shouted. "See, the jutsu brought Sakura-san to me!" Tenten and Neji could only stare in amazement as he skipped over to Sakura and graciously offered to walk her home.

"No way," Tenten said. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"It was a coincidence," Neji insisted. "There's no way a stupid technique like that could exist, let alone work."

They watched in silence as Lee and Sakura left the bookstore together under a single umbrella.

"We have to try it," Neji said. He had already grabbed the notepad Lee had dropped and was busy drawing an umbrella.

"Are you serious?" Tenten asked.

"What else have we got to do?"

She sighed. "Give me some paper."

"So whose names should we write?"

"What's wrong with using our own?"

Neji fixed her with a pointed stare.

"Fine, fine. Don't want to ruin your dateless streak." Neji's stare turned into a death glare. "I'm kidding! Look, there's Ino with an umbrella; let's see…" Tenten laughed evilly and wrote down a name next to Ino's under her umbrella drawing then looked at Neji's. "I guess we'll see who's the better matchmaker."

"That we will," he agreed. He too had written down Ino's name, but they'd each put a different person on the other side of the umbrella. If Lee had been there, he would have sentenced the loser to grueling physical punishment, but Lee was not there, and all that was at stake was bragging rights. Bragging rights were still a precious commodity though, so the two teammates were watching so intently that when Ino stopped and bent down to talk someone, they both gasped.

"She's putting her umbrella over someone! I can't see; Neji, who is it?"

"I can't tell…"

"Oh, for the love of…use your Byakugan!" Tenten cried, exasperated. "What's the point of having a bloodline limit if you aren't going to use it?"

"Fine, fine; I'll do it." He activated his Byakugan and located Ino.

"She's with Chouji," he said smugly. "Looks like your jutsu is the one that failed."

"Seriously? Well, it's not like I expected it to—"

"Wait, there's someone else there!"

"Is it Shikamaru?" Tenten craned her neck to try and see better as the trio walked closer to the book store. Sure enough, the entirety of Team 10 was found under a single umbrella. "They both worked…I don't believe it."

"Coincidence…it has to be a coincidence," Neji said, but before he could finish, Tenten began writing again.

"We chose something too easy," she declared. "We have to try something that wouldn't happen naturally. Gai-sensei and…" She tapped the pencil against her lip. "Oh, no…that's too evil…I couldn't possibly…"

"Who are you considering?" Neji asked apprehensively; what poor soul was she going to subject to sharing an umbrella with Gai?

"Sai."

"That _is_ evil…do it."

Tenten wrote Sai's name down, and the two of them watched from the window to see if the "jutsu" would work again. Five minutes went by, and they were about to give up when Neji saw a flash of green on the street and recognized Gai.

"No way…"

"It can't be…"

"It's even more powerful than we thought…" Neji stared at the piece of paper before him then looked back out the window. Not only were Gai and Sai sharing an umbrella, they were holding hands and looking at each other with lovesick expressions.

"That's just wrong," Tenten said.

"You were the one who thought of it!"

"Yes, but I'm going to undo it!" She erased their names from under the umbrella; instantly, the two let go of the umbrella and went their separate ways, not even realizing what they had just been doing.

"Poor Lee," Tenten said suddenly. "He's probably so happy to be with Sakura that he doesn't even care it's a jutsu." She traced the umbrella Lee had drawn. "Maybe I should erase their names…for his own good, you know."

"Right."

"I was serious! I don't want Lee to get hurt!"

"I believed you the first time; you don't have to explain yourself to me."

Tenten blushed. "I wasn't…I'll just do it then." She erased Lee and Sakura's names from underneath the umbrella. As if on cue, Lee arrived in the bookshop, soaking wet.

"Lee! What happened to your umbrella?"

Lee sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Tenten…Sakura-san went the rest of the way home alone, but she took my umbrella."

"Lee…" Tenten immediately regretted what she had done. "I'm so sorry; it's my fault."

"Your fault?" Lee looked confused. "I tripped and accidentally looked up Sakura-san's skirt, so she punched me and continued alone…how is that your fault?"

"Oh! Well, in that case…" Tenten grabbed Lee by the wrist and pulled him along. "I'll take you home so you can get into dry clothes; I still have my umbrella."

"But I don't want to share an umbrella with you," Lee protested. "Sakura-san—"

"I'm sick of hearing about Sakura! Come on!" And with that, she dragged him out of the bookstore, leaving Neji alone.

He watched them go, then looked down at the notepad Tenten had left behind. If the jutsu really did work, he could… He got as far as writing his name and the first character of another's before dropping the pencil and tearing the paper into tiny pieces; he didn't want some stupid jutsu to be the only reason someone would share an umbrella with him.

It was late afternoon by now, and the rain was relentless as ever. Neji bought a magazine out of politeness, grabbed his umbrella, and began to head home, doing his best to avoid stepping in puddles.

He couldn't help noticing all the couples around him. For a moment, Neji regretted tearing up the paper; at least then, he wouldn't have to walk around alone. He was thinking so hard about this that he thought it was his imagination when he saw Hinata and kept on walking until he doubled back and confirmed it really was her.

He was torn; should he go in and say "hello" to her, or keep walking and pretend he hadn't seen her? She was ordering something at the bakery; if he wanted to be really gallant, he could go in and pay for whatever she was getting—he still owed her for the shaved ice after all.

He didn't get a chance to make a decision before Hinata saw him through the window and waved. He waved back and met her just outside the bakery as she came out.

"Neji-nii-san, are you on your way back home?"

"I am."

"This is silly," she said, over-preoccupied with arranging her shopping bag, "but I left without an umbrella when the rain had stopped. I don't know what I was thinking…"

Without a word, Neji extended his umbrella over her. She smiled and looped her arm around him so that they were both under it.

"This way, no one gets wet," she said.

The walk home usually took twenty minutes, but because walking while so close together and keeping the umbrella positioned properly was a bit awkward, it took forty-five. Hinata didn't seem to mind, though, and Neji certainly wasn't complaining.


	3. Natsu Kaze

第三間：夏風邪  
Chapter Three: Summer Cold

July came, and as usual, Neji celebrated his birthday alone (save for the few family members who chose to acknowledge it), then joined his teammates for a birthday-Tanabata combination outing.

Tanabata was crazier than usual this year since all of Konoha was on vacation, but Neji and his friends were able to get a spot at his favorite soba restaurant and still have time after to hang up their wishes. Neji had made the same wish for both his birthday and Tanabata this year, hoping that the combined power would make them more likely to come true; he was aware that thoughts like that made him sound an awful lot like Lee, but he told himself it was somehow different.

"So, Tenten," Lee asked later when they were lighting sparklers in one of the training clearings, "what was your wish this year?"

Tenten took her time answering, waiting for her sparkler to fizzle out before shrugging and saying, "I wished that I could make one unforgettable summer memory…not necessarily anything romantic, though!" She waved her hands quickly. "I mean, now that we don't have any missions, we have time to do something really special!"

"Like what?" Lee asked.

"I don't know…something we've never done before!"

Neji thought for a moment. "We could go to the beach," he suggested. "I mean, we've been to the sea for missions, but this would be entirely for fun."

"Neji, you're a genius!" Tenten said.

"I know?"

"No, really, you are! A beach trip is the perfect idea!"

"I agree!" Lee cried. "It's the quintessential summer vacation activity!"

"We should get everyone together; maybe we could even stay the night!"

"Plus, then I can see Sakura-san in her bathing suit—"

"Hmm, should we camp out or get some rooms at an inn?"

"And have a romantic walk with her into the sunset—"

"Wait a minute!" Neji shouted over his teammates' excited chatter. "Does anyone actually know which beach we should go to?"

Lee and Tenten stopped talking and thought about that for a moment.

"I think I remember Naruto-kun talking about his visit to the Wave Country at one point…" Lee said. "I mean, with a name like Wave Country, I'm sure it has beaches; we could head there and look for one."

"Sounds good to me," Tenten agreed. "Let's meet up early tomorrow and set out to find the perfect beach!"

Lee punched the air and did a couple of kicks in excitement; Neji merely nodded. Since they'd made plans to get up early, and they were out of sparklers anyway, they all headed home.

It didn't take Neji too long to prepare; he just added some provisions to the bag he usually carried. The night was clear, so he left his window open to catch any passing breezes.

That turned out to be a bad idea. It rained all night, and the breezes Neji had hoped to catch were full-on gusts of wind. He got everything closed before any significant water damage occurred, but his room was now uncomfortably chilly, and even though he buried himself under as many blankets as possible, he couldn't really get warm enough.

The next morning, the three met up at the gates of Konoha as planned. The sun had just come up and was only beginning to dry the huge puddles spread everywhere, so they made their way carefully on the path leading to Wave Country.

"You know," Lee observed, "we'd probably travel a lot faster if we jumped through the trees like we usually do."

"If we tried that now, we'd slip and fall to our deaths, silly," Tenten explained. "It's too wet right now."

"At this rate, it will take us the entire day to reach the beach," Neji said, a little worried. He hadn't expected to stay there overnight.

As the sun rose higher, the day grew hotter and the ground drier. At last, the three of them were flying through the air at three times the speed they could travel on land. They stopped once for lunch, squabbled over directions twice, and made it to Wave Country by afternoon.

"Are we in the right place?" Neji asked in dismay. Instead of bright, sunny beaches like he'd envisioned, the land was coated in a thick mist that dropped the temperature at least twenty degrees cooler than Konoha.

"This place is freezing," Lee said. "Sakura-san and I won't be able to splash each other in the surf if it's this cold and gloomy."

"Maybe it's just a bad day," Tenten said. "We should ask one of the locals what kind of weather to expect."

The innkeeper they asked only had bad news; apparently the island had five misty days a week, more during the rainy season, so they weren't to expect much sun during their visit.

"What a shame," Tenten said as they crossed the bridge back to Fire Country. "We came all this way for nothing."

"Not necessarily," Neji said. "We've already reached the coast; we can scout alongside it to find a more suitable beach." He looked at the sky, trying to gauge the sun's position, but it was too foggy. "Although it's getting late…should we stay the night?"

"…I don't have enough money with me," Lee confessed.

"Me neither," Tenten added. "And I didn't pack a tent."

Neji sighed heavily. "So we have to find a beach _and_ get back to Konoha by tonight? In that case, we should probably split up and meet back here before sundown."

"Sounds good. I'll go west." And Tenten immediately set off in that direction.

"Lee, do you want to go with her or…"

"OK!" Lee set off after her, leaving Neji to explore the east side alone.

He was vaguely annoyed that he'd been ditched so quickly, but then again, Lee had spent most of the trip there yattering about Sakura and what he was going to do with her at the beach, and Neji could really only take so much of that. It was a shame that Lee was so hung up on a girl who was obstinately in love with another man, but Neji never said anything about it because if he thought about it too hard, he didn't have any room to criticize.

Alone with his thoughts on that matter, he'd gone about ten miles before the sun broke free from the clouds and shone brightly on the most beautiful beach he'd ever seen. The sand was pristine, the waves were the perfect height and came in regular intervals, and the sun shimmered through the spray of the surf, making little rainbows every now and then.

"I want to come back here with Hinata-sama," he thought, remembering his birthday-Tanabata wish; Tenten wasn't the only one who wanted an unforgettable summer memory.

He shook his head—now wasn't the time to dwell on such things—and returned to the task at hand, moving inland to see what kind of overnight lodgings were in the area. He found three reasonably priced inns, one of which even had an outdoor bath, before heading back to the bridge where he would meet Lee and Tenten.

It was cold still at the bridge, and the temperature shift did not agree with him. He sneezed and, amused, thought that perhaps Lee or Tenten was talking about him, but then he sneezed again with such force that he almost whacked his head against the rail he'd been leaning against. Maybe because he'd been out in the cold for so long…

He shook his head. No, that was just a myth; you can't catch a cold just from being cold, he told himself, but that thought wasn't exactly comforting when he was shivering on what should be a warm July day.

"Neji!" Tenten called from where she and Lee were. "Did you find a good place?" she asked as the three of them met up. "I really hope so because there was nothing good where we went."

Neji smiled. "I did. It's perfect."

"Show us where it is!" Lee said exuberantly.

After Neji led them back to the beach, it was unanimously decided that the location was indeed perfect, and Tenten went to make reservations at the inn.

"Next weekend," she said when she got back. "I got us two rooms; now let's head back so we can invite everyone!"

It was a long trip back to Konoha; by the time Neji got back to the gates of the Hyuuga Clan compound, it was well past midnight. He was beyond exhaustion; he barely managed to pull out his bed before collapsing fully dressed on it and instantly falling asleep.

The next morning, someone was pounding on the door. Wait, how would that even work? His door was a thin sliding one; if someone pounded on it, it would break. Neji opened his eyes and immediately regretted it—the pounding was in his head, not on the door.

"I don't have time for this," he groaned, forcing himself to sit up. He had to meet Tenten and Lee as they rounded up everyone for the beach trip; if he didn't, they might forget someone.

It was no use; he made it three steps before a powerful sneeze knocked him back onto his bed, making his headache so bad that he had to close his eyes again.

An hour later, he woke up to someone knocking on his door. At first, he thought it was his head playing tricks on him again, but this time, he heard voices calling his name.

"Neji? Neji, are you OK?" Tenten called. He answered with coughing, leading his teammates to shove the door open and check on him.

Neji didn't really remember much of what happened next; somehow, he wound up properly in his bed with a cool cloth on his forehead, which wasn't helping too much because he didn't have a fever, but it felt nice so he wasn't protesting. He cracked an eye open; Tenten was gone, and Lee was sitting quietly in the corner. If he didn't feel so miserable, Neji would plan to be sick more often just so he could take advantage of a quiet Lee.

His door opened again; Tenten was back.

"Make sure he doesn't get out of bed," she started to say when Neji abruptly sat up and did exactly what she'd warned against.

"Neji! What are you doing?" she cried. "You're in no condition to be walking around!"

"Beach trip…" he managed to gasp out.

"It's not until this weekend," Lee said, grabbing Neji by the arm and leading him back to his bed. "If you rest up, you'll be better by then."

"No…have to invite…can't forget…"

"Relax, we took care of that already," Tenten said. "Since we're here taking care of you, we asked Naruto to round everybody up. Don't worry; he's not going to forget anyone."

This was bad. Neji was too ill to register what exactly was bad, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it from his bed and once again tried to get up.

"Lee, hold him down!"

"Neji, you have to stay still," Lee said as he pushed his sick teammate down. "You won't get better unless you get rest!"

Neji paid no attention to him, continuing his efforts to get out of bed; Tenten was seriously contemplating pinning him to the bed with kunai when someone knocked on the door.

"Oh, good, she's finally here," she said. "Come in, Hinata!"

It worked like a charm. Neji instantly fell limp on the bed, causing Lee to fall forward from the momentum of pushing him down. The two knocked heads, and Neji almost passed out from the added pain radiating through his skull.

"Ow," Lee said, rubbing his forehead. "Tenten, there's no one here; what were you—"

"Sh!" she said, covering his mouth with her hand. "Look!" She pointed at Neji, who, in the process of pretending to be sleeping quietly, had actually fallen asleep.

"Um, Tenten-san," Hinata said from the hallway. "Why did you call me just now?"

"Oh, no reason," Tenten said, grinning. "Lee and I have stuff to do; take care of Neji for us, please!"

"O-of course…"

When Neji woke up, it was dark outside. His head still hurt, but that was mostly from hitting it against Lee's, and his throat was still sore, but he felt a little bit better.

"Oh, you're awake!" Hinata said. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little bit." Had Hinata been watching over him all this time? She didn't look as though she'd been sitting there long.

"I made you some rice porridge; it might be cold by now…"

"I don't mind." Suddenly, Neji felt very hungry, and he managed to eat the entire bowl. "It's delicious; what did you put in it?"

Hinata blinked. "Rice, water…a little bit of salt."

"You're a really good cook, Hinata-sama."

"Thank you. Um, I should go. You need your rest."

"Right…" Neji obediently lay back against his pillow. "After all, I need to get better before this weekend."

"What's happening this weekend?"

"You know, the beach trip…you're going, aren't you?"

"Th-this is the first I've heard of it."

That decided it; once he was better, Neji was going to let Naruto have it. 'I knew he'd forget to tell her,' he thought angrily.

"Everybody's going to the beach this weekend," he explained. "Didn't anyone tell you?"

"Oh…I've been inside with you all day though, so I wouldn't have heard anything."

That was a surprise; she'd been here all day taking care of him? Naruto could live another day, Neji reluctantly decided; after all, he'd probably tried to get the message out.

"Well, consider this your official invitation, Hinata-sama; I really want you to come to the beach with us this weekend."

Hinata smiled. "All right. But no one's going anywhere unless you get better," she said authoritatively. "Go to sleep, Neji-nii-san. Hopefully you'll feel better in the morning."

He nodded and shut his eyes; he already felt better.


End file.
